NFL playoff picture finally clear

From the ugliness of 1-15 to the beauty of an AFC East title. That's the Miami Dolphins' story this season.

The tale was nearly as good for the Atlanta Falcons, who went from 4-12 to an NFC wild-card berth. And for the NFC South-winning Carolina Panthers, who surged from 7-9 to 12-4.

Minnesota improved by two games to 10-6 and that was good enough for the NFC North crown.

While Miami, Carolina and Minnesota were clinching divisions Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles were joining the Falcons as wild cards. Already in were the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals in the NFC, the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts in the AFC.

San Diego completed the playoff field in the final game of the regular season, beating Denver to win the AFC West with an 8-8 record.

Next weekend, Atlanta is at Arizona at 2:30 p.m. MST on Saturday and Philadelphia is at Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. MST on Sunday in the NFC. Indianapolis visits San Diego Saturday night and Baltimore is at Miami in the 11 a.m. MST game Sunday in the AFC.

The Giants, Panthers, Titans and Steelers have byes.

Of course, the biggest story was in Miami.

A year after winning once, the Dolphins' remarkable resurgence under first-year coach Tony Sparano got them 11 victories, including a 24-17 win over the New York Jets that secured the division. Miami joins the 1999 Indianapolis Colts as the only teams to make 10-game improvements.

"We're going to savor this now, at least on the flight home. We'll start planning for the playoffs tomorrow," Sparano said.

The Dolphins won five straight and nine of 10 to close the season and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

The Chargers completed an improbable in-season turnaround with a 52-21 victory against the Broncos. San Diego won its final four games to become the first 8-8 division winner since 1985, and first team ever to go from 4-8 to the playoffs.

"It was really a playoff game tonight, so we knew we had to win to keep going and that was all we needed," Chargers star LaDainian Tomlinson said. "Really it was about pride for ourselves more than anything."

Denver (8-8) completed a monumental collapse, becoming the first team since division play began in 1967 to miss the playoffs after having a three-game lead with three weeks to go.